Brent Venables begins every game by walking arm-in-arm with his Oklahoma Sooners players as they take the field together. The visual projects a clear sign of the team’s unity and togetherness.
In another sign that Venables practices what he preaches, the fourth-year Sooners head football coach willingly offered to take a $1 million pay cut from his 2025 salary in order to donate it to Oklahoma’s revenue-sharing efforts earlier this summer ahead of a pivotal offseason. Venables’s 2025 salary is now $7.55 million, according to documents obtained by USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz.
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Following Saturday’s 35-3 season-opening win over Illinois State, Venables opened up about why he opted to make such a significant financial sacrifice, citing college athletics’ new world order where programs can share up to $20.5 million with student-athletes in the first football season since the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement in June.
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“I did it because I think it was the right thing to do. And I’ve lived a very favored career, way more than what I deserve, and I want to help Oklahoma be a winner,” Venables said Saturday. “I just think it’s right. The players deserve that. Everything’s different than what it was 5, 10, 15 years ago. So it’s a very small gesture, but I wanted to send a message to our players, but also other donors too. I know how that can really help. And I do feel like maybe it did. The buy-in is there, it’s not one-sided, it’s all of us together.
“If we’re going to be successful, it’s going to take the whole program, our fans, our fanbase – who are just amazing – our administration, our players, our coaches. It’s going to be all of us together moving forward.”
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Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione told SoonerScoop’s George Stoia III last Friday that Venables first presented the idea in February about donating a one-time financial commitment to the team’s rev-share fund as the football program underwent a vital offseason that saw the Sooners add more than 20 players out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, including superstar quarterback John Mateer from Washington State.
“It went to rev-share, and we got it all paid out before July 1st,” Venables explained. “I think that was an important part of it, so we could make sure we get the guys that we need, take care of the guys in our locker room first and foremost, and then get the guys that we needed.”
Venables is not the only FBS coach to divert dollars from his salary toward rev-share. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy saw his salary get reduced by $1 million to help with rev-share, and Florida State coach Mike Norvell reportedly is planning to contribute $4.5 million of his salary toward those efforts in Tallahassee.
“Obviously, things have changed, and it’s about time. … And it’s not going back,” Venables concluded. “So, we’re in a pretty good place right now. And I think leadership is getting a grip on where we need to be and where we need to move going forward so we have something that’s stable and consistent so that you can have continuity in your program, things of that nature.”
— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.
